Not just your standard logo: is it time to animate your branding?
Logos and branding live the majority of their lives in the static world of paper and print. When used for digital there's not much variation or excitement, except maybe for a quirky loading page animation with an element that might jump up and down but that’s about as good as it gets. As we move into 2019 this overlooked element could be getting a better and bigger part in the branding line up.
Recently the website building company, Squarespace, upgraded its branding from a static and rounded logo to a sharp edged, elegant - and get this - constantly moving visual. The logo was created in collaboration with DIA, who are a New York based creative agency. Their aim was to see if Squarespace could be identified not only through visuals but also movement. The logo now sits on a face of a 3D cube which swipes and rotates to the other sides of the cube, these in turn show the other logo marks (abstract, word etc.) of Squarespace. Through the use of this movement the logo embodies its name and literally becomes a square moving through space.
With the use of digital design, brands are able to communicate through a visual animated movement instead of only static marks, innovating how consumers see and interact with brands. Logo designers will now be forced to add more on to the method of logo building, which usually involves hours of sitting at a desk measuring and drawing to create the perfect logo, and now think about not only how it will look but how it will move.
An animated logo can be uploaded to multiple social media platforms. Video content is widely popular on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc. and creating an animated logo allows users to interact and share the brand in a way they were never able to do before. People can associate brands with these animated and fun elements.
The concept of creating an animated logo is not where this needs to stop. It can be furthered into the branding itself. Companies can also create sharable animated elements such as stickers and GIF’s to promote their brand. An example of an agency using this is Moross Studios, who earlier this year released a set of personalised stickers for Instagram Stories using phrases and visuals that best represent them as a company.
This kind of interaction on social platforms between user and brand shows how animated branding elements, such as the logos, have evolved from the static printed logo to becoming an interactive digital experience. Conveying how it was once an overlooked element of the branding process but now could be the next big step in creating a memorable brand to consumer relationships.
Emma Schilperoort is a content producer at Wilderness
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